Newbie -- hypoplastic marrow

[Dawna5]

Hi everyone, My son has been diagnosed with a hypoplastic marrow, cellularity @50% What brought us to this diagnosis was a routine blood test he had in the emerg last Oct, I brought him in because he was having severe stomach pain along with dizziness, headache and heart palpatations.
The blood work came back ok but - a test two weeks later showed all three cell lines were just below normal. Red and White cells were just below and platelets were the lowest. The BMB he had in Dec showed the cellularity with no other abnormalities. His counts have stayed the same since then with his RBC going from 119-124 platelets were at 98.000 last visit. We saw the hemo in May and go back in Sept. I'm wondering if anyone else is going through a similiar experience? as you can tell, this is all very new to me as I'm not at all familiar with all of the termanolgy and different tests, medications etc.... Intresting, my mother passed away from MDS RAEB T - she was diagnosed in April 2003 and lost her battle August 2004.
I have also posted on the Aplastic Anemia site and got a lot of helpful informative response's. I should also mention - my son will be 13 in August.

[Ruth Cuadra]

Hi, Dawna.

Welcome to Marrowforums. I hope we'll be able to help you understand more about what's happening with your son's hypoplastic bone marrow. As you probably already know, it is a part of the definition of aplastic anemia that the bone marrow is hypoplastic, that is it has a reduced amount of blood forming tissue.

Before I was diagnosed with aplastic anemia in 1996, I had probably been living with slowly declining counts for a year or more. One's body can adjust to living with low counts, as mine certainly did, but everyone is different in their tolerance. Is your son experiencing symptoms from lower than normal counts?

Given that your mother had MDS RAEB-T, I wonder if your son's hypoplastic marrow might indicate hypoplastic MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome). It can be difficult to distinguish aplastic anemia and hypoplastic MDS because of the reduced cellularity, but it is not a critical distinction since both aplastic anemia and hypoplastic MDS respond to similar treatment. However, the possibility of hypoplastic MDS progressing to a more another form might be a concern.

Let us know what questions or concerns you have. There are many of us at Marrowforums with considerable experience who are ready and willing to help.

Regards,
Ruth Cuadra